Boris Johnson had secret talks with Apple over a 'mad' mid-bridge store during a 24-hour visit to the tech company's San Fransisco headquarters to secure funding for the Thomas Heatherwick-designed Garden Bridge.
The idea for an Apple retail store on the middle of bridge was suggested by the tech giant in return for sponsoring the project, according to newly released transcripts from the London Assembly.
The plant-covered Garden Bridge was set to span the River Thames between Temple and the South Bank, but was cancelled over funding concerns earlier this year following an independent enquiry carried out by Labour politician and former chair of parliament's public accounts committee Margaret Hodge.
The bridge was a pet project of former London mayor Boris Johnson, who made the whistle-stop visit to California in February of 2013. He was accompanied by his then chief-of-staff Edward Lister and Isabel Dedring, the deputy mayor for transport at the time.

Heatherwick also attended the meeting. The designer was already in the building on a trip paid for by Apple to discuss the use of iPads in city management systems, according to the documents.
Challenged by Hodge in the Garden Bridge review, Lister said "there was a degree of confidentiality" to the meetings between Johnson and representatives from Apple.
"The mayor felt there was sufficient opportunity to go to Apple and discuss it with them and there was a fair chance that Apple might sponsor the whole brid...